Rationale
With this unit I hope to accomplish a sense of understanding when it comes to Thanksgiving. All too often the theme is taught, but the historical background is not thoroughly looked at. Also, the theme of hard work gets ignored and students are left with the impression that Pilgrims' lives were not full of hardships. I believe that my unit provides that understanding by following the guidelines of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for third grade language arts. It covers all of the competencies in some form.
My main goal with this lesson is to accomplish a sense of pride in Thanksgiving whether or not every student is an American born citizen. Thanksgiving on Thursday shows students that there are many more things to be thankful for in life than just having a big dinner and time off from school. Both of these books helps students understand the rewards of hard work. The Pilgrims had plenty of food and had survived the harsh winter when others had not and Little Red Hen was able to eat her bread without having to share it with the people who put no work into the making of it. I feel these are important themes and Thanksgiving ties into it well. Children at this age range are beginning to discover that there is a world outside of their own. In younger groups children often think of themselves, family, and friends but they rarely see the big picture. With third graders they can look at broader ideas. This unit is also appropriate because it fits into the third grade language arts curriculum. Students, in this unit, are working with multiple texts, including fiction and non-fiction. They are also forced to use critical thinking skills through the jobs they are assigned. The biggest idea is that the students use many ways to communicate with their classmates (written, orally, poetry, etc).